‘Revolution,’ Season 1, Episode 8, ‘Ties That Bind’: TV Recap

Last week on “Revolution” we got some good, juicy details on what caused the blackout and who the good and bad guys are in our story. So, with so much revealed a week ago, I’ll be shocked if we get anything really meaningful tonight. Let’s see if I am right!

On to tonight’s episode…

We begin 290 miles from Monroe’s headquarters in Philly. Charlie Company (Charlie, Miles, Nora, and Aaron) are trying to cross a bridge guarded by the Monroe Militia. Miles smells a trap and the group scatters just as militia start shooting machine guns at them. No one gets hit, which either means the militiamen are blind or that we are watching a TV show where the good guys never get hurt unless it is convenient to the plot.

Miles recognizes that the Strausser is the man leading the militia. He is ruthless and Miles says he is the only man Miles fears. As evidence, we see Strausser killing one of his aides who failed to capture Charlie Company. The militia start calling out to Nora. They have captured her sister, Mia, and strung her up. Nora and Charlie Co need to rescue her or Strausser will certainly kill her.

Flashback time. It is 2 months after the blackout and we are in Nora’s house. She and Mia are hiding under a bed as some looters come through the house. Nora looks around and finds her mother dead. Nora immediately hides Mia from the crime scene.

Back in the present, Strausser calls out to Charlie Co and says he will release Mia… if they hand over the power pendant and Miles. Charlie Co backs away to figure out what to do next. Miles demands the pendant from Aaron and tries to destroy it, bashing it with the hilt of his sword over and over again. The pendant does not have a scratch on it. Miles is frustrated. “We cannot let Monroe have that thing! It’s too dangerous,” he says. Charlie says they are going to get Mia back.

At Monroe headquarters, Maj. Neville walks in on his son, Jason, being beaten by some militiamen. They say Monroe ordered them to do it. Neville goes to Monroe and asks what his son did. Monroe explains that Jason was trying to get information on Strausser. Jason has feeling for Charlie and does not want Strausser to kill her. Monroe says he is going to send Jason on a diplomatic mission to California – 3000 miles away into some very dangerous territory. Either that, or he is going to execute Jason for treason.

Meanwhile, Charlie Co (thanks to Nora’s expertise with explosives) has rugged some dynamite to take out a few of Strausser’s men. Inexplicably, the militia all leave Mia to investigate the explosions allowing Charlie Co to cut her free. As our heroes and Mia run off, Strausser is in pursuit.

Somehow, the next scene features Charlie Co (plus Mia) wandering along a road. How they got all the way away from Strausser is unexplained. I guess he could not keep up with him because he was doing a slow “menacing bad guy walk” while they were running. Yeah, that’s realistic. Mia says she knows a man who can help them cross the river about ten miles away.

Another flashback. This time we are in Galveston, Texas and it is four months after the blackout. Young Nora and Mia are looking for their father. His house is abandoned. Mia is quite upset. Nora tells her that their mother is dead. They vow to continue looking for their father.

Back to the present. Mia tells Nora that she recently took a trip to Texas and found their father. Mia urges Nora to come with her and that they can all live together as a family again. Nora says she will go as soon as they rescue Danny from Morroe HQ in Philly. Mia scoffs at her and says Philly is a suicide mission. The group gets to where they were going to make the river crossing, but Strausser has already gotten there and killed the man who was going to help them. Our heroes need to find a new way across.

Maj. Neville is at home. His wife, Julia (Kim Raver), comes in to talk to him. She brings their maid in the room. The maid tells Neville that the son of one of Monroe’s top aides has joined the rebels. Julia wants Neville to use the info to convince Monroe to save Jason from the California trip.

At the river crossing, Charlie overhears Nora and Mia talking. She tells Nora to go with Mia to find their father. Nora resists, saying she promised to help get Danny back, but Charlie insists. Nora decides to leave, but before she does, she gives Miles a passionate kiss. “I’ll see you around,” she says. “These days, I doubt it,” says Miles in response.

Monroe and Neville are watching Monroe’s top aide get beaten. Monroe investigated the allegations against the man’s son and they were true. Monroe has already executed the man’s son and it looks like the aide will soon be dead too. Monroe says he will not send Jason to California, but tells Neville to make sure Jason stays in line from now on.

Mia and Nora are walking along, chatting about how Nora used to sleep with Miles, when Strausser suddenly appears. Mia has been working with him the whole time! I knew the rescue of Mia seemed a bit too easy. I am actually glad the show did this. It makes the rescue and escape more realistic. Mia also stole the power pendant from Aaron and gives it to Strausser. She tells him where to find Miles, Charlie and Aaron. “What have you done?” Nora asks her sister. “She just saved your lives,” says Strausser.

Strausser and his men leave Mia and Nora. Mia admits that she had been working as a bounty hunter for Monroe. She also says she never found their dad. It was all a ruse to trick Nora. Nora runs off to get back to Charlie Co.

Miles, Aaron, and Charlie are walking when Aaron realizes someone stole his pendant. He barely has time to accuse Miles when Strausser’s men open fire on them. The good guys are pinned down. Miles says, “hold your fire, I’m coming out.” He surrenders to Strausser. Meanwhile, Nora has knifed a guard and stolen his gun. She opens fire on the militia. Unlike them, she is a really good shot and kills a few guards. Miles and Strausser get in a fight, which Miles wins, though he does not kill Strausser. Everyone in Charlie Co flees as the militia shoot at them. Of course, the militia continue to miss everything they are aiming at. Our heroes find themselves at the edge of the raging river they could not cross. They have no choice this time, so they all jump in.

The next scene is all of Charlie Co drying off after crossing the river. Miles and Aaron have a little confrontation over Aaron losing the power pendant. They are both angry about it.

One final flashback to young Nora and Mia in Galveston. They are cuddled up together in their father’s abandoned house. They both say they will protect the other. If you ask me, this week featured some of the most useless flashbacks we have yet seen on the show. YAWN!

In the present, Strausser has gone back to Philly. He comes into Monroe’s office and presents the militia leader with Aaron’s power pendant. Meanwhile, Julia is nursing Jason back to health after his beating. She goes to see Neville, who is reading in their study. Julia tells Neville that since Miles left, Monroe has become more and more erratic. “We need a new leader,” she says. Neville does not seem to think her idea is all that crazy.

Monroe goes to visit Charlie’s mother, Rachel. He gives her the power pendant and says, “you now have everything you need.” All of us in TV land wonder, “to do what?!?!”

Last scene of the episode and we check in with Randall and his captive, Grace. He tells Grace he wants to show her something. He takes her to a room filled with electronic equipment. He has a giant electric map which seems to be tracking the locations of all the missing pendants. He can tell that Monroe just got a pendant. “What are you going to do about it?” Grace asks. Randall’s reply –“I’m not going to do anything about it, Grace. You are.”

The camera pulls back to show a giant factory of some sort. It looks like it might be a giant power plant. Is Randall turning the power back on or does he only want to control the power for himself?

And the episode is over. The preview for next week shows Miles and Monroe coming face to face, so we can look forward to that. I’ll say this – I thought we’d get nothing important this week, but Monroe getting Aaron’s pendant is a big deal. Aside from that, it was a pretty blaah episode. Someone needs to train those militia guys to shoot straight… or maybe not. It would be bad news for our heroes if these guys could hit the broad side of a barn.

Well, that’s enough from me. Time for you to post your thoughts so we can chat! Leave a comment and we can continue the conversation.

If you want to read more of Jason Evans’ commentary on the Movie and TV industry, follow him on Twitter @TVFilmTalk

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